Cornell’s offense can’t stave off Lake Holcombe

By Ginna Young

Facing off, the Cornell Chiefs saw the Lake Holcombe Chieftains make the short trek to Cornell, Jan. 15, for an inconference girls basketball match. The Chieftains outscored the Chiefs, 28-14, by halftime, but Cornell looked to turn that around in the second half.

“I was very happy with how the girls played in the first half,” said Cornell Courtney Yanko. “Defensively, they knew exactly where they needed to be and were really functioning as one unit. Offensively, we are trying to get more of our shots to fall. Once that happens, we will see the score gap close significantly on a lot of these conference teams.”

The Chiefs scored 19 points after the break, but it wasn’t enough, as Lake Holcombe continued to score.

As a result, the visitors went home with a 59-33 win. “Nice to get back on the winning side and a conference win,” said Lake Holcombe coach Jennifer Lechleitner. “We have many bumps to polish to keep up with other teams in the conference.”

For Cornell, junior Kelsea Popp ended the night with a three, racking up with points, followed sophomore Lauren Samardzich, who also knocked down two shots from long range.

Freshman Bralee Schroeder added 6 points to the mix, with sophomore Grace Harycki next, with 4, while sophomore Makya Hetherington chipped in with 2 points.

Samardzich, Schroeder and Popp each nabbed 3 rebounds, with Popp also coming up with an assist. Hetherington also had an assist, as did Harycki, while senior Teaira Spaeth came up with 4 rebounds and sophomore Teryn Close had 2 rebounds.

On Lake Holcombe’s side, senior Brooke Lechleitner led with 22 points, while sophomore Emma Lechleitner was next, with 13 points. Junior Justine Kane shot a three-pointer, finishing with 11 points, followed by freshman Abby Jones, with 7.

Junior Karly Kirkman also notched a three-point shot and junior Belle Jones added 2 points. Senior Carly Vavra rounded out the scoring, with 1 point.